WIDNES Vikings made it six wins in a row with a hard-fought victory over Rochdale Hornets at Spotland.

Hot weather conditions and an immaculate playing surface made conditions ideal for attacking rugby and the crowd certainly got value for money with 14 tries in the match.

The early stages suggested it was going to be an afternoon of fun in the sun for Widnes.

Mick Nanyn opened the scoring as he powered over in the left corner for a try, which he converted, and right winger Damien Blanch made it 10-0 when he followed up a Dennis Moran kick to touch down.

Rochdale hit back when Lee Patterson squeezed over but it looked like plain sailing for the Vikings when another smart Moran kick got Mark Smith in and loose-forward Bob Beswick strolled through a huge gap to make it 22-6 after 20 minutes.

But there was plenty of sting left in the Hornets and they staged a superb fight-back.

Back-rower Lee Doran stretched over for the home side and he was quickly followed over the whitewash by powerful centre Richard Varkulis.

Kevin King added the extras to both scores and was on target again when right winger Mark McCully found space to score by the posts just before the interval to give Rochdale a 24-22 lead.

The Vikings looked shell-shocked and had to endure more pressure early in the second half but a King penalty was all the Hornets could muster.

Widnes gradually worked their way back into the game and hit the front when Nanyn crashed over for his second try from a Moran pass.